Aureus the Golden One
| upkeep_cost = | req = | moves = | melee = | ranged = | defense = | resist = | hits = | item_slot_1 = | item_slot_2 = | item_slot_3 = | abilities = Caster ( ) | random_abilities = 2 (Any) }} Aureus the Golden One is one of the 35 Hero units featured in Master of Magic. Aureus is a non-Champion Hero. He may randomly appear for hire if a wizard has at least , in which case his Hiring Cost is by default. Alternatively, Aureus can be summoned using the Summon Hero spell (or through partial failure of the Summon Champion spell), and can occasionally be found as a Prisoner reward after a successful Encounter. Aureus is a jack-of-all-trades, with respectable abilities across the board - including similarly-strong and . His usefulness can vary greatly from game to game due to having 2 Random Abilities of any type. Depending on these abilities, Aureus may be able to specialize in one or more forms of combat, field support, or other tasks. Aureus may be equipped with the basic fare of Magical Items. This limits his ability to become a powerful Ranged Attacker, so he benefits more from Melee-oriented abilities and items. Aureus is a basic Spellcaster by default, but does not possess any independent spells of his own. Aureus's Upkeep Cost is per turn, unless he has randomly acquired the Noble trait. General Description It is unknown whether Aureus the Golden One is actually human, though he is certainly humanoid. This Hero's skin, hair, and even eyes are completely golden, leading to the assumption that he is either a magical construct or a child of the gods themselves. He even rides a golden horse! Aureus the Golden One is decidedly a non-specialist, curious about all things in the world, and thus developing skills that cover the spectrum and are not necessarily compatible with one another. As a result, he is rarely if ever an expert in one type of combat or support, but rather suitable for many different tasks at different times. As a point of interest, the name "Aureus" literally means "Golden" in the Latin language (from "Aurum" - Gold). Initial Properties All data below assumes Aureus is at his lowest Experience Level, and without any Magical Items or Random Abilities - After all, any Hero can become devastatingly powerful after gaining several levels and powerful items. Please refer to the tables and chapters below for more information. Attack Properties By default, Aureus the Golden One possesses both a and a . Both attacks are equally powerful, unless he acquires a Random Ability that alters one or the other. As a result, he can perform different actions on the field based on the particular weaknesses of his enemies. Aureus's Melee Attack has a default strength of . With a basic To Hit chance of , he can be expected to deliver about per attack. This is not bad for a low-level Hero, but means he will need to make many attacks to destroy any enemy unit - putting himself at risk in the process. Aureus's Ranged Attack has the same strength as his Melee Attack, at , and can be expected to deliver the same . The advantage however is that this attack can be used at a distance, and does not trigger an enemy Counter Attack - thus keeping Aureus safe. As a , this attack does not suffer penalties for distance. However, it is useless against any enemy possessing Magic Immunity. Note also that this attack is associated with the realm, and thus is less effective against enemy units enchanted with Resist Elements or similar spells. Note that Aureus's uses from his own personal pool as ammunition. Each attack reduces his remaining Mana by . When he has only or fewer left, he may not use his Ranged Attack anymore for the rest of the battle. Since this is the same that Aureus uses to cast spells during combat, he must decide whether to use Ranged Attacks or cast spells depending on the situation on the battlefield. is restored to full capacity at the end of each battle. Defensive Properties By default, Aureus the Golden One has a Defense score of . This enables him to block, on average, about from any damage source. This allows Aureus to go up against most low-tier Normal Units with relative safety. Remember of course that Aureus is not a heavy-hitter himself, and may still need to exchange many blows with his opponents. Until he gains some Experience or good Magical Items, he is vulnerable to most enemy units. Aureus possesses by default. This is a respectable amount for a low-level Hero, and should allow him to survive a few hits from low-tier Normal Units. He is not nearly healthy enough to take on any serious opposition though. As with most Heroes, Aureus possesses a default Resistance score of . This makes him somewhat vulnerable to Curses and other combat maledictions. It will take at least before he can become immune to some of these effects, assuming no Magical Items or Random Abilities augment it. Other Properties Aureus the Golden One has a basic Hero's Movement Allowance of . This is good for speeding up his movement on the overland map, through plain land tiles like Grassland and Deserts. During battle, Aureus may need to use his speed to stay away from stronger enemies. Spellcasting Aureus the Golden One possesses the Caster ability by default, and initially has to spare. This Mana pool increases with Experience. Aureus may cast any combat spell known to his employer, and does not add any spells of his own to this list. Some spells may be unavailable until Aureus can gain some Experience and increase his available . Note also that will draw from Aureus's pool each time they are used. This will reduce the remaining Mana for spellcasting. Fortunately, is completely replenished at the end of each and every battle. To cast a spell with Aureus during combat, press the "Spell" button and select "Golden One" from the pop-up list. If Aureus is out of , out of Movement Points, has been killed or is otherwise incapacitated, his name will not appear on this list. Note that using Aureus to cast spells does not reduce your own available Spell Skill or - he is completely independent and uses up his own skill and Mana. Finally, the Caster ability also allows Aureus to augment your wizard's own Spell Skill. To perform this, place Aureus in the same tile as your Fortress town. While he is inside this town, your Spell Skill is increased by half the value of Aureus's Caster skill, rounded down. Experience The following table illustrates how Aureus's various skills and attributes increase as he gains Experience. Attributes not appearing on this list do not improve with Experience. Also note that if Aureus receives any Random Abilities, some or all of them may also increase with Experience, and may adjust any of the attributes listed below! Average Damage Output The following table shows Aureus's average output with each of his attacks, based on his current Experience Level. You can use the checkboxes to see the effect of some of the Random Abilities that Aureus may occasionally possess. Note that this table completely ignores bonuses from Magical Items, if any. Improvement Overview As with any other Hero, Aureus can eventually become very powerful as he gains Experience. Nonetheless, he is quite weak at the lower levels. With additional levels, Aureus's Caster ability will allow him to cast more spells in each battle or to perform several more . This can turn him into a powerful ranged attacker or support hero. If Aureus obtains good Melee-oriented Random Abilities, he will likely gain a very powerful early on. Still, unless one of the picked abilities also increases his durability in some way, he will still be in danger of dying if attempting to confront strong enemy units in Melee combat. Ability Overview Caster ( ) * This Hero may cast spells during combat, withdrawing from his/her own personal Mana Pool to do so. * The Hero may spend only per battle. This Mana Pool is reset at the end of each battle - assuming the Hero survives at all. * With each Experience Level gained, this Hero receives a permanent bonus of . * Spellcasting takes up all of the Hero's remaining Movement Points for the turn. * While this Hero is inside his/her employer's Fortress town, the owner's Spell Skill is increased by half the value of the Hero's Caster ability. Random Abilities When a new game is started, the program randomly chooses 2 additional abilities for Aureus. These are called Random Abilities. The selection is done completely at random (while observing a limit on the strength of certain abilities) from the list below: Whichever Random Abilities were picked, they are permanent. Aureus will never re-randomize his abilities during the course of a single game. He may, however, pick different abilities in the next game. The majority of the abilities listed above - any ability except Charmed, Lucky and Noble - can be picked twice. If this occurs, Aureus receives the "Super" version of that ability, which is 50% stronger than the standard version. Charmed, Lucky and Noble have no "Super" version, and can thus only be picked once. The Caster ability may be picked once or twice, despite the fact that Aureus already has this ability by default. If picked once, it will increase Aureus's available for spellcasting by per Experience Level (including the first level). If Caster is picked twice, the bonus is per Experience Level. Equipment Aureus the Golden One has the following item slots: This set-up contributes primarily to Melee combat. Aureus's inability to equip a Staff or Wand, or wear two pieces of Jewelry, means that Magical Items will not help him increase his Ranged Attack or Casting skills by any significant degree. The Jewelry piece, however, can be used to keep those abilities from becoming underpowered as Aureus levels up. Recommended Items Due to Aureus's Random Abilities, it is hard to tell in advance which Magical Items will most come in handy for him. Weapon :Naturally, Aureus will benefit from any Melee weapon. However, as his skills are unlikely to be very impressive on the attack, it is often better to opt for a Sword with bonuses and/or immunities. If a good armor item is acquired, a more damage-oriented Sword might be better. :Alternatively, a weapon with a or bonus can help Aureus to better exploit his magical skills. This puts a greater emphasis on support, especially if Aureus has the Arcane Power ability or additional levels in Caster. Armor :As with any lightly-armored Hero, Aureus will likely want to wear heavy armor. Almost any bonuses on the armor will be fine, but they can strongly influence Aureus's role on the battlefield. :An armor piece with extra and/or Movement allows Aureus to function better as a Ranged Attacker, evading enemies as he attacks them from afar. If Aureus gets strong abilities, it is often better to opt for armor with high bonuses. Jewelry :Limited to only one piece of Jewelry, Aureus needs to make sure that he picks one that fits his abilities well. :Again, the choice depends greatly on Aureus's role on the battlefield. Defensive bonuses like , and Movement will help a Ranged Attack-oriented Aureus, as will a bonus. If Aureus is a strong Melee Attacker he may prefer or bonuses. penalties are not so important, unless your spell repertoire contains many Curses he can cast. Acquisition Aureus the Golden One can be acquired in one of four different methods: * By hiring him as he comes to visit your Fortress town, * By casting the Summon Hero or Summon Champion spells, * By rescuing him from an Encounter zone, * By Resurrecting him after he has been killed in battle. Hiring Aureus Every once in a while, a Hero will arrive at your Fortress town to ask for employment. The frequency of this event depends on your current score, the number of Heroes already under your employ, and whether or not you have particular Retorts that affect this chance. In order for Aureus to appear for hire in this way, you must meet several requirements: # You must have at least . # You must have sufficient in your treasury to hire Aureus (more on this below). # Aureus must not have already been killed in battle. Since the game randomly chooses which Hero appears during this event, there's no guarantee that Aureus will ever appear. The chance, however, increases if the number of other valid Heroes dwindles (such as when most other Heroes have died in battle). The default Hiring Cost for Aureus is . This is reduced to if your wizard has the Charismatic Retort. If you do not have this much at the start of a turn (after paying all Upkeep Costs), Aureus will not appear for hire. In fact, if he is picked as the Hero who approaches you, and you lack the money to hire him, you are effectively forfeiting your chance to hire any Hero this turn. After agreeing to hire Aureus (you can always refuse), you may give him any name you choose - he will be known as " the Golden One". His overland unit will appear at your Fortress town or, if that town's garrison is full, next to your Fortress town. Summoning Aureus As a non-Champion hero, Aureus the Golden One can be summoned using either the Summon Hero or Summon Champion spells. However, Summon Champion only has a chance to bring Aureus to you if all Champions are unavailable at the time. Once the spell is completed, the game chooses a random Hero to bring to your Fortress from a list of all available and valid Heroes. Therefore, there is no guarantee that Aureus will appear when these spells are cast, unless all other Heroes are unavailable. Again, you get a chance to agree or refuse to hire Aureus. If you agree, he will appear in your Fortress town and/or next to it. If Aureus is hired through the use of Summon Hero or Summon Champion, there is no need to pay any Hiring Cost. However, you may still need to pay an Upkeep Cost (see below). Rescuing Aureus On defeating an Encounter of at least moderate difficulty, there is a small chance that your reward will include a Prisoner previously held captive in this Encounter zone. The game can randomly pick any non-Champion Hero to be rescued in this way - except Heroes that have already died while in your service. Your and are disregarded, and there is no need to pay any Hiring Costs. Note that if the army that beats that particular Encounter already contains 9 units, you will never be rewarded with a Prisoner. Resurrecting Aureus For most wizards, losing Aureus in battle removes him from the game permanently. He will never appear again. For -wielding wizards, however, who have access to the Resurrection spell, it is possible to bring Aureus back to life after he has died. In this case, Aureus returns to your Fortress town, with no Magical Items, but keeping all Experience he had prior to his death. You may repeatedly resurrect Aureus each time he dies. Upkeep Costs Once Aureus is in your employ, you must pay him an Upkeep Cost of at the start of each and every turn. Failure to pay this price due to lack of results in Aureus leaving your employ. This is not permanent however: Aureus may still be acquired in any of the above methods with no penalty. Note that if Aureus picks the Noble Random Ability, he will demand no Upkeep Costs - and instead contribute to your treasury every turn! Alternate Names Other wizards can also have a Golden One, but they are different characters (what happens to one has no effect on the others), and go by different names, as follows: Category:Units Category:Heroes Category:Non-Champions